I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
by mabelreid
Summary: One shot sequel to How did this happen to me? Hope catches her mother kissing Santa Claus and damage control must be done to her belief in Santa


_A/n this takes place a couple of years after "What lies within the Heart of Darkness. It is a oneshot, so let me know what you think. It's based on the Christmas Carol "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus_

_Disclaimer: I don't own the the show as I keep noticing. Only Hope is mine! _

Reid placed the last colorfully wrapped gift under the tree. He sat back on his heels and looked approvingly at the tree. It was a little over six feet tall and flocked white. JJ had insisted on an artificial tree when they'd first married and he had to admit that she was right. The tree had a large red ribbon, the bow attached to the top, the ribbons flowing down over the sides of the tree. There were red lights circling the tree and after putting those on, Reid now understood why Hotch's left eye twitched whenever anyone mentioned Christmas lights on a tree. There were gold, silver, and red ornaments all over the tree and red tinsel. It was beautiful!

The tree was standing proudly in one corner of the living room next to the entertainment center. He stood a new bike for Hope next to the tree and straightened up. His backbone creaked a little and he thought for just a moment that he was getting old.

"You're not getting old Spence." His wife's voice said from behind him.

He turned and smiled happily down at her. She was still the most beautiful woman in the world to him. Her golden hair still made him weak at the knees after four years of marriage, and her big blue eyes could still get him to do just about any thing.

"You always know what I'm thinking and yet you remain a mystery to me, so much for all my so-called profiling skills."

"Poor baby," She gestured toward the glass of milk and plate of cookies on the glass and wrought iron coffee table. "Hope made cookies for Santa!"

He gulped and tried to be diplomatic in his words. "She made the cookies." He squeaked.

"You're so cute when you squeak," JJ said, ignoring the look of utter horror on her husband's face. "Don't worry; I made sure they were edible."

"Well that's comforting. Is she asleep?"

"Yep… it's midnight and all is well!"

"Good… then I can do this," He reached out and pulled her to him. He bent his head to hers, but she dodged his attempt to ravage her mouth.

"Oh… no you don't," She wiggled out of his arms! "You have cookies to eat." She went to the coffee table and picked up the paper plate decorated with a Santa face and a border of wreaths with red ribbons. She picked up the milk and held them out to Reid, who looked like he'd rather face the firing squad.

"Don't you trust me Spence?"

"That look isn't going to get you what you want this time." Reid declared.

"Oh… I think it will because the night is young."

The way she was looking at him made him decide that if the cookie were inedible at least he'd have a proper "dessert" when he was done with his snack. Anyway Hope deserved a little trust, didn't she?

He picked up one cookie and it was soft enough, so he risked taking a bite out of the edge. Hm… it wasn't bad. Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies were his favorite and these were pretty good. He got comfortable on the couch and scarfed them down with the glass of milk while his disloyal wife snickered at him.

"You're getting way to much pleasure out of watching me eat." He complained. JJ followed him over to the couch.

"Well yeah, you look like a little kid once you realized the cookies were up to my usual standards. You're sweet tooth rivals anything I've ever seen."

"I can think of something I like better then sugar." He waggled his white eyebrows at her. "Now where was I?" He leaned in for a kiss, but she stopped him with her hands on his chest.

"What now?" He whined.

"You're so cute when you pout. You've got crumbs in your beard." She said beginning to laugh again. She snuggled up next to him.

"Really… that's too bad!" Who cared about cookie crumbs he was going to finish what he'd tried to start a few minutes ago. "May I kiss my wife now?" He asked.

"There's no need for sarcasm." She giggled.

He ignored her and moved in to kiss her lips, which were always warm and soft. She began to giggle again and pulled away from him for the third time on one night. What was up with that?

"What's so funny?"

"You're beard is ticklish, can't you take that thing off."

"I distinctly remember you saying that you wanted to make out with me in the Santa suit. I oblige without complaint and you tell me to take off the beard. Anyway… I can think of other places to tickle with this beard, if you're a good girl. Have you been a good girl JJ?" His voice had dropped to a jaunty deep tone, or as deep as his voice got.

"Yes…" She said. The fire in his eyes made her breathless.

"Hm… I don't know if I believe you." He pushed her back on the couch, and moved one hand down to open the top button of her jeans.

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Hope Reid couldn't sleep. She tried really hard because mommy said that Santa wouldn't come if she didn't go to sleep, but she was so excited for Christmas morning. It seemed like morning was such a long time away.

"Sammy, do you think Santa is really real?" She asked her teddy bear.

Hope was in kindergarten and Johnny Carter had told her that Santa wasn't real, that parents made him up to fool little kids on Christmas. Hope thought he was lying. Her daddy wouldn't lie to her, he always told the truth.

She heard something outside. It was coming from the living room, but she didn't know what it was, and it was dark and her bed was so warm. She turned over again and addressed Sammy. "I know he's real, mommy and daddy said so and they don't tell lies. Mommy said it's wrong to tell lies, so they wouldn't do that."

There it was again, that sound. It sounded like a laugh and low voices. Maybe Santa was here. If she were quick maybe she could see him and tell the mean old Johnny that he was real. She slipped out of her bed and padded out to the living room in footy pajamas. There was a little bit of light in the room and there were lots of presents under the tree that hadn't been there before. That meant that Santa had been there didn't it. She heard a giggling laugh and some voices by the couch, but when she went around to see who it was, she saw her mommy kissing Santa Claus. Why was mommy kissing him? Mommy was supposed to kiss Daddy, not Santa Claus.

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Reid's fingers were opening the button on her jeans, when she heard a little voice behind them say in a very watery tone.

"Mama!"

Reid jerked away from her and fell off the couch. JJ wanted to laugh and then she saw five year old Hope standing there, tears running down her face in the dim light of the dialed down lights and the orange flames of the fire that was burning low.

"Hope… what are you doing out of bed." JJ demanded.

"I heard a noise and I wanted to see Santa, but I…" She burst into sobs and turned back to her room.

"Damn it…" JJ said. "What do we do now?" Reid was already on his feet and heading after their daughter.

He followed her into her room where she threw herself on the bed and cried. "Hope its daddy!" He said.

"No! You're Santa Claus and you kissed my mommy, and I hate you." She'd turned over to confront him with her mother's eyes and he didn't know what to say.

"Hope Reid. You will not speak to your father that way." JJ ordered.

"No… he's not daddy, he's Santa Claus and I hate him." Hope yelled.

"Spence… take the beard off so she can see your face."

"Oh… Ah… right." He pulled his beard and hat and wig off and smiled at Hope. "See it's me." He told her.

"Daddy," She sniffed loudly and her little face was blotchy and tear stained? It broke his heart.

"Yeah baby… its Daddy." He moved to hug her, but she scrambled away accusation so clear in her eyes.

"See… I talked to Santa and he said I could dress up like him tonight." Reid explained, hoping that this little white lie wouldn't make things worse.

She looked at him like he'd ripped apart Sammy and stomped on him. She had folded her arms over her chest and tears were running down her face.

"Santa isn't real," She said with a resignation that broke Reid's heart.

"Yes he is baby. He told me that I could be a special helper for him tonight. You see he has lots of homes to visit these days and I said I would help him." Reid said kneeling in front of his daughter.

"He's really real," she asked, still looking very skeptical.

"Yes baby…" JJ joined her daughter on the bed. "Santa has a lot of helpers. He loves all the little children of the world and wants them to have gifts. You know what is even more important then that, my beauty?"

"No mama," Hope sniffed and reached for Sammy to cuddle.

"Santa makes everyone feel special at Christmas not just kids. He reminds us of the Spirit of Christmas. Remember the story of the Baby Jesus daddy told you?" Hope nodded. "Santa Claus helps us remember to be unselfish, just like the Christ child. Santa gives gifts and expects us to be generous too, he asked adults to help him."

"Ok mama, I'm sorry." She told Reid who hugged her tight.

"Now… go to sleep little one." She crawled back into bed and they tucked her in and kissed goodnight.

"I love you mommy and daddy," she yawned.

"We love you too," Reid said and JJ blew her a kiss before turning out the lights.

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Reid slid into bed and turned over to look at JJ, who was frowning. "Do you think she's ok? I know that some day she won't believe in Santa anymore, but I don't want it to be now."

He looked down into the dark blue eyes he loved. "Babe… she's going to be fine, I'm just sorry this happened. I got carried away. We should've lock ourselves in here first." He pushed a lock of blond hair behind her ear and she smiled.

"Yeah talk about a mood wrecker. Seriously though, what if she doesn't get over this?"

"Then we'll deal with it at that time. Right now I'm tired and she's going to be in here in a few hours waking us up."

He switched off the light and JJ snuggled into his arms. "Goodnight beautiful." He kissed the top of her head and sleep overtook him before she could answer, but she didn't sleep for a long time.

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Hope woke them at the crack of dawn. She seemed to have forgotten the night before as she tore through all her gifts. Spencer and JJ exchanged gifts and watched their daughter play with her new toys. She begged to go out and ride her bike, but Spencer showed her all the snow that was falling.

"You're bike won't go in the snow very well. When it stops snowing I clear off the driveway and show you how to ride." He promised her, hoping that the snow would stop soon or shoveling it would destroy his back.

JJ took both of them aside after Hope had finished, saying she had a special gift for both of them. She pulled a small box from her pocket and presented it to Reid.

"What's this," he asked startled?

"Just open it and you'll see." He voice shook slightly, but she was so excited, she felt faint.

He ripped off the wrapping and opened the box. There was a pair of baby booties confronting him. His eyes began to sting. They'd been trying for so long and now it was happening.

"JJ… Are you… does this mean… I…"

"Yes… I'm pregnant." She screamed. Reid grabbed her and kissed her till Hopes confused voice pulled him back to reality breathless and oh so happy.

"What's pregnant mommy?"

"Oh baby… I'm sorry I forgot you were there. Pregnant means mommy is going to have a baby." She picked up Hope's hand and put it on her belly. "The baby is growing in Mommy's tummy and soon you'll feel your little brother or sister moving."

Hope's eyes got big and her face went pink. "I knew Santa was real." She said excitedly. "I asked him for a little brother or sister and I get one." She began to clap her hands and jump up and down.

JJ looked at Reid who had opened his mouth and she clamped a hand over it. Whatever he was going to say to explain pregnancy could wait for several years if JJ had anything to say about it. Her daughters belief in Santa was restored if only for a few years and she wasn't about to mess that up!


End file.
